Second quarter a disappointment for most public restaurant chains

The second quarter brought mixed results for public restaurant chains across the country with only a few high-flying brands standing out from the crowd of lackluster reports.
Several chains noted their disappointment, saying a hoped-for bounce back in the second quarter after a tough winter never came to fruition.
The clear winner during the second quarter was Chipotle Mexican Grill, which reported a jaw-dropping 17.3-percent increase in same-store sales, the highest since the ...

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Data from the APT Index for Q2 2014 supports this article’s claim that traffic was a challenge for restaurants, with same-store restaurant transactions down 1.5%. Same-store sales were up 0.8% and check size was up 2.4%, according to the APT Index. The APT Index–generated based on actual sales data from tens of thousands of restaurant locations–provides additional insight into restaurant sales performance, showing that the five worst performing states were in the Northeast. These states were New Jersey [-4.6%], New York [-2.9%], New Hampshire [-2.6%], Connecticut [-2.3%], and Pennsylvania [-1.0%]. We can break these comps down further to understand how performance varies by local market characteristics. In areas where temperature increased in Q2 2014 versus Q2 2013, same-store sales increased 1.1%, whereas sales were up only 0.4% in areas where temperature decreased. Additionally, areas where median income was less than $50K had a 2.0% sales increase, while areas where median income was $50K or greater had a sales decrease of 0.2%. With specific data points like these, at the national level and for each specific store, executives can begin to understand their “true comps” after accounting for uncontrollable factors in the surrounding environment.